News

There were a lot of courses taught at AFT-Oregon’s 2015 Winter School. We’re already seeing the results of the knowledge acquired in effective bargaining and organizing efforts by AFT-Oregon locals and their leaders.

If you recall from our Winter School Recap the Issues Organizing class put their skills to work right away. The students of the class organized an action to collect tips for the wait staff at the Hallmark Resort.

Members of the class gathered tips and thank you notes over the course a few hours Jan. 25 and presented their collection to the wait staff.

A record setting 94 AFT-Oregon local leaders traveled to Oregon’s coast for a weekend of training, team building, and worker empowerment at AFT-Oregon’s Winter School Jan. 23-25.

The weekend was unofficially kicked off with an Executive Council meeting Friday afternoon. Board members took this opportunity to continue discussion of AFT-Oregon’s plans for 2015.

The meeting began with a celebration of the successful GTFF Local 3544 strike. For two weeks in December University of Oregon Graduate Teaching Fellows were on strike, battling the: wind, rain, and sometimes freezing temperatures, fighting

AFT-Oregon's 2015 Winter School sign up is here!

Join us for a weekend full of empowerment and educational opportunities. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet and work with other education and union leaders. Additionally, attendees will have the opportunity to attend multiple workshops to learn new skills.

Register online here: https://leadernet.aft.org/webform/aft-oregon-2015-winter-school

To view workshop descriptions click here.

Winter School 2015 is planned for January 23-25, at the Hallmark Resort. Here is the address:

744 SW Elizabeth
Newport, OR 97365

Participation is limited to the fir

While the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the importance of collective bargaining and unions to families and communities in its ruling in Harris v. Quinn, let's be clear that working people, who have aspired to the middle class and tried to make a better life for their families, have taken it on the chin for years, AFT President Randi Weingarten says.  Read more.

(Reprinted from Local 3544 (GTFF)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Teri Del Rosso, PR Coordinator: 315.552.8359
Richard Wagner: member.communications@gtff.net

Eugene--The 1,500-member Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation (GTFF) authorized our leadership to call for a strike in response to unsatisfactory contract offers from the University of Oregon Administration. Following the Administration's refusal to continue to negotiate financial packages last week, our membership called for a strike authorization vote Friday night and, over the last four days, 98% voted in favor of authorization.

Because the

Toby Dittrich, Local 2277 (PCCFFAP) member and physics instructor at Portland Community College was honored this week by the Basketball Hall of Fame, Springfield, Massachusetts, for co-invention of the “breakaway rim.” This invention revolutionized professional basketball, and made careers of many players by allowing them to show off their fancy moves, including “slam dunking” the ball, without shattering the backboard. It  has also provided safety for millions who play the game for recreation.

Dittrich, along with Arthur Ehrat (Virden, IL) both received patents on the breakaway rim and were

“This last year has been a wake-up call for many in Oregon’s labor movement,” said David Rives, AFT-Oregon President in his State of the Union address to convention delegates. Rives was referring to AFT-Oregon members’ response to a recent threat of an anti-worker ballot initiative which was ultimately withdrawn.

“AFT-Oregon worked tirelessly with locals to mobilize our members. Staff developed and conducted trainings for worksite leaders, and locals mobilized their members with an urgency we hadn’t seen before,” said Rives. It was inspiring to see a level of activity, and we don’t want to lose